Is Harley Quinn a Superhero?

[Air Wave]

So I keep posting questions about superheroes and people keep responding Harley. She doesn't seem superhero-y enough to me to be included in a list of superheroes but maybe you disagree. So let's vote and decide.

[Android 17]

I mean every sympathetic villain is a superhero these days so yeah, I think she counts as one.

[Riv86672]

No, she’s just really popular.

[superduperman]

She helped Joker murder people so no.

[berserkerclaw]

No shes not aSuperhero. A Supernhèonusially has a se ret Idenroty andnfigits crime ans is heroic. Harley is being mkre good then bad but I wouldnt say superhero

[Gaius]

Is Joker a superhero?

[Frontier]

They're pushing her that way because of popularity but otherwise? No.

[marhawkman]

I mean every sympathetic villain is a superhero these days so yeah, I think she counts as one.

Haha, you have the perfect avatar for this discussion.

The question isn't "how did she start out?" But rather... "what are her current goals in life?"

Going back to the DBZ analogy...

17 and 18 had in the History of Trunks special very loosely defined goals. They seemed rather unhinged and didn't even care about ruling the world just random chaos while treating everything and everyone as their personal toys. And they've killed millions in the process.
But in DBZ proper.... They're far less maniacal... and don't normally fight to the death. There's that famous scene where 18 breaks Vegeta's arm.... she beats him senseless.... and just walks off leaving him laying there... and doesn't even try to kill him. Yeah... in DBZ.... during Android saga... Vegeta racks up a higher kill count than 17 and 18. They're just.... not trying to kill people, well except Goku... but they're not even in a hurry for that. And even then... it's because of Gero forcing them to do it... which is probably why they aren't in a hurry, they just don't care about killing Goku.

Sooo... having them get treated as heroes later... actually makes sense. Cell killed a lot of people.... 17 and 18 didn't.... in this timeline. So.... despite having scary powers... I mean 17 and 18 put together beat up Vegeta, Trunks, Tien, and Piccolo as a group. but... this was a defensive action. 17 and 18 didn't start it.

Sooo... what are Harley Quinn's GOALs? What has she been doing?

[Android 17]

Haha, you have the perfect avatar for this discussion.

The question isn't "how did she start out?" But rather... "what are her current goals in life?"

Going back to the DBZ analogy...

17 and 18 had in the History of Trunks special very loosely defined goals. They seemed rather unhinged and didn't even care about ruling the world just random chaos while treating everything and everyone as their personal toys. And they've killed millions in the process.
But in DBZ proper.... They're far less maniacal... and don't normally fight to the death. There's that famous scene where 18 breaks Vegeta's arm.... she beats him senseless.... and just walks off leaving him laying there... and doesn't even try to kill him. Yeah... in DBZ.... during Android saga... Vegeta racks up a higher kill count than 17 and 18. They're just.... not trying to kill people, well except Goku... but they're not even in a hurry for that. And even then... it's because of Gero forcing them to do it... which is probably why they aren't in a hurry, they just don't care about killing Goku.

Sooo... having them get treated as heroes later... actually makes sense. Cell killed a lot of people.... 17 and 18 didn't.... in this timeline. So.... despite having scary powers... I mean 17 and 18 put together beat up Vegeta, Trunks, Tien, and Piccolo as a group. but... this was a defensive action. 17 and 18 didn't start it.

Sooo... what are Harley Quinn's GOALs? What has she been doing?

I don't really see the correlation though between 17/18 and Harley.

Yeah in Future Trunks's timeline the Androids are chaotic monsters, but like you pointed out in the DBZ mainline, they were just much more sensible and didn't really do much damage (besides taking out the Z warriors that one time) thus being treated as heroes. But in Harley's case, she willingly participated in Joker's crimes and killed people all for his attention, so now she's on a path of redemption to make up for all that.

So with that being said, I think you could consider her a hero now.

[marhawkman]

I don't really see the correlation though between 17/18 and Harley.

Yeah in Future Trunks's timeline the Androids are chaotic monsters, but like you pointed out in the DBZ mainline, they were just much more sensible and didn't really do much damage (besides taking out the Z warriors that one time) thus being treated as heroes. But in Harley's case, she willingly participated in Joker's crimes and killed people all for his attention, so now she's on a path of redemption to make up for all that.

So with that being said, I think you could consider her a hero now.

The question is what Harley's current goals in life are. Is she still a murderous ----?

[Air Wave]

OK it seems your answer is a definite NO.

[nx01a]

She's a power fantasy for crazy chicks, so... For that subset, she's a hero.
Otherwise? Nah. Definitely not a hero, just like Poison Ivy.

[Exciter]

I mean… is Deadpool a superhero?

Harley started as a villain, but in recent years DC has functionally converted her into a superhero of the antihero persuasion. We might not like it, but she’s got solo books where she’s fighting villains. So I think she probably counts.

They’ve done similar things with Black Adam.

I hate to say it, but status wise in terms of DC’s female heroes, she’s probably second from the top.

[lilyrose]

They've tried to turn her into one by having everyone around her forget and overlook her track record of murder. Lots of it.

I don't get it myself. You can't redeem flat out murderers. Over history they've made it harder and longer for Catwoman to be redeemed for cat burglary of all things.

Yet Harley gets a pass? Really?

[Alan2099]

DC treats Harley like a superhero.

Harley's own actions and personality speak otherwise.